Timothy TorresAlcatel OneTouch Watch The Alcatel OneTouch Watch gets the basics right, but the lack of an app store and finicky fitness tracking offset the affordable price and broad compatibility of this smartwatch.

The Alcatel OneTouch Watch gets the basics right, but the lack of an app store and finicky fitness tracking offset the affordable price and broad compatibility of this smartwatch.

Like just about every other smartwatchon the market, the Alcatel OneTouch Watch walks a thin line between useful and perfunctory. It still doesn't feel like a must-have smartwatch that will change the minds of non-believers, but with an affordable $149.99 price, a battery that lasts several days, and support for both Android and iOS devices, the OneTouch Watch is a decent gateway device for anyone looking to get in on the exploding wearable craze. Most beginners, however, will be better served by the original Pebble Smartwatch, which is even less expensive, lasts longer, and offers many more apps.

Compatibility, Design, and DisplayOne of the best things about the OneTouch Watch is that it works with both Android and iOS, a huge plus for anyone who changes smartphones as often as clothing. This is a big advantage over Android Wear devices or the Apple Watch, which only work with Android or iOS, respectively.

The OneTouch Watch works with devices running Android 4.3 (Jellybean) or higher, and the iPhone 4S or newer models that use iOS 7 or higher. You also need the OneTouch Move app installed on your phone in order to connect to the watch. For this review, I tested the watch with the HTC One M9 and the Apple iPhone 6.

With a circular face surrounded by an attractive chrome finish, the OneTouch Watch looks somewhat similar to the Motorola Moto 360. It's an unassuming, classic design that's free of the right angles and bulky edges most smartwatches wield, which is good if you don't want to call attention to the fact you have a mini-computer strapped around your wrist.

The watch face measures 0.41 inches thick and 1.64 inches wide. The strap comes in two sizes: Small/Medium (7.2 inches), or Medium/Large (8 inches long). It also comes in two colors: black with a red underside, or a white and silver combo. You'll find the number 12 at the top of the watch face and six at the bottom. There are no other numbers on the face, as the rest of the hours are marked by generic dashes. A single physical button used for powering the watch on and off and for triggering the display resides on the right side. The watch is rated IP67 for dust- and water-resistance, so it can be safely submerged in water up to three feet deep, which makes it safe to wear in the shower.

A hinged metal clasp snaps shut to close the rubber strap around your wrist. The rubber is very stiff, and when combined with the hinged metal clasping mechanism, leaves very little wiggle room. I like my watches to have a bit of slack, and was turned off by the rigidity at first. But after a few running sessions I found the watch to be pretty comfortable. Eventually, I forgot I was wearing it, even while sleeping. Those with hairy wrists may want to brace for some pinching when putting it on and taking it off, though, and I found the strap a bit difficult to adjust due to its overall inflexible nature.

Hardware and Battery LifeThe display measures 1.22 inches, with a 240-by-204-pixel resolution. That's smaller and less sharp than the Samsung Gear Live's 1.63-inch, 320-by-320 AMOLED display, but the screen is large and legible enough that I didn't experience any problems trying to read text or numbers. Still, next to the Gear Live it looks grainy, and I wish it had more than three brightness settings including one that's lower than the lowest offered.

The watch connects to your phone of choice via Bluetooth 4.0 and features an accelerometer, gyroscope, altimeter, heart rate sensor, and compass. Most of these functions only work when you trigger them by tapping their respective apps, but they're all useful tools—even if some can be a bit finicky (more on that later).

Battery life is a strong point. While most color smartwatches only last a day, I used the OneTouch Watch for an entire weekend without charging it. Alcatel promises battery life of two to five days, which seems fairly accurate. It's simple to charge the 210mAh battery, too, by flipping up the end of the watch strap to reveal a thin USB 2.0 connector that you can plug directly into a computer or wall adapter. There is no USB cable or cradle required, a nice change from the Pebbleor many Android Wear options, which rely on cumbersome "middle men" to charge.

A good reason for the lengthy battery life is likely due to the fact that the display is always off, unless you press the side button or lift the watch up to your face. This is great for saving power, but it means you can't tell the time at a glance. In order to turn the display on, the wrist-lifting motion needs some speed and energy to it, otherwise the screen won't illuminate. And it would've been nice for an option to allow the display to remain on for longer than 15 seconds at a time as well. After 15 seconds, it's light outs.

Pairing and User InterfaceTo start using the watch, you need to activate Bluetooth on your compatible phone and download the free OneTouch Move app from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Once installed, simply follow the directions on the watch and the app to complete the pairing process. After pairing, a quick tutorial video played, then I was free to start using the watch. It should be noted that you can only pair the watch with one device at a time, which I discovered after a failed attempt to pair with the One M9 while still connected to the iPhone 6.

My first order of business was to change the wallpaper on the watch's display. Using the app, you can choose predefined backgrounds, like pictures of sandy dunes, a starry night, or an extreme close-up of an insect wing. You can also create a custom background by taking a photo, which is really cool. I took a selfie with the iPhone 6, cropped my mug into a circular shape, and slapped it on the watch face in a matter of seconds. It's a nice, easy way to personalize the device.

The rest of the interface is just as simple to use. The home screen, which can be customized in a few different ways (including a digital, analog, or 24-hour clock), shows you the time, date, battery life, and a few other notification icons depending on the status of the watch's alarm (muted or not), the battery power, missed calls, unread messages, and whether the sleep or fitness trackers are activated. Swiping up will show you your notifications, including messages from Facebook, Twitter, or Google Hangouts, as well as the subject lines of your Gmail messages. Tapping anywhere on the watch screen brings you to the main menu, which is a colorful array of app icons arranged horizontally. Tapping the number six on the bottom of the watch face when any app is open will take you back to the main menu. Altogether, the OneTouch Watch is a lot more simple to navigate than Android Wear.

Apps and Features In addition to notifications, there are several other features available, including a bunch of rudimentary—albeit useful—apps. Fitness buffs will be pleased by the inclusion of a pedometer, though unfortunately it's pretty easy to cheat; just stand still and wave your arms back and forth across your body to accrue imaginary steps. Actual steps aren't always counted, either. When I counted 100 paces on my own, the OneTouch Watch was off by about 15 or 20 steps. Similarly, the heart rate monitor would give me different results from test to test. Sometimes the results were consistent, but other times they would jump from 50-something beats per minute to around 100.

Thankfully, other functions are more reliable. The weather app gives you the day's high and low temperature. A Find Phone function on the main menu causes your connected device to buzz or ring loudly (as long as you're within Bluetooth range). Other apps accessible from the main menu include a stopwatch, a music controller that allows you to play, pause, and skip tracks on your smartphone, a compass, and a nifty app that turns the watch into a timer for your phone's camera. Alarm settings, Airplane mode, brightness settings, and color inversion options (the app icons can turn light or dark depending on your preference) round out the rest of the apps and features.

Unfortunately, there is no app store, which means what you see is what you get. That's a stark contrast from the Pebble, which has a robust app store, and Android Wear, which can even download car-summoning services like Lyft and Uber.

Conclusions Like most of its smartwatch brethren, the Alcatel OneTouch Watch is not going to set the world on fire. It only has a small number of predetermined apps, its fitness sensors could be more accurate, and its rigid rubber strap won't win over the hirsute. But if you're in the market for a starter smartwatch, the OneTouch Watch isn't a bad choice. It's water-resistant, customizable, easy-to-use, and less expensive than most Android Wear devices, plus you can use it with your iPhone. At this price, though, you'll probably be better served by the Pebble or the Pebble Steel. Both offer even better battery life than the OneTouch Watch, along with a robust store featuring hundreds of downloadable apps. Or, if you're willing to spend more money, you might want to check out the Apple Watch, which combines fitness-tracking capabilities along with an app store that's already attracting some big-name developers.

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About the Author

Timothy Torres is a Junior Analyst on PCMag's consumer electronics team. He covers wearables, digital home, and various cool gadgets including the occasional video game. He has written all manner of copy for Computer Shopper, The Jersey Journal, Radio One, Random House, and 2D-X. Before entering the tech world, he attended New York University and w... See Full Bio

Alcatel OneTouch Watch

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